The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has initiated this Monday, with a complex horizon, contacts with other formations to try to close an agreement that would take control of Berlin away from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the big loser in Sunday’s elections after being behind the conservatives and the Greens.
CDU candidate Kai Wegner said voters had «clearly» given him the power to take the initiative thanks to 28.2 percent of the vote and 52 seats, the best result in two decades. «The people of Berlin have voted for change,» he assured in declarations to the DPA agency.
Opposing him will be the partners of the coalition that emerged from the previous elections — the SPD, the Greens and the Left (Die Linke). Both Social Democrats and Greens have obtained 34 seats each, while Die Linke will have 22 representatives in the Berlin chamber.
The head of the Berlin regional government, the Social Democrat Franziska Giffey, does not rule out even heading the coalition again, at the end of contacts in which she will also speak for Wegner.
For her part, the candidate of the Greens, Bettina Jarasch, has not ruled out an alliance with the CDU, although she has warned that this would require verifiable commitments on the environment or housing. In principle, she is leaning more towards a continuation of the current coalition, the only viable option in the eyes of Die Linke.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
